Original Articles
Vol. 9 No. 1 (2026)
Morbidity pattern among national health insurance enrollees attending the primary care clinic of a tertiary hospital in northwestern Nigeria
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All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
Received: 20 August 2025
Accepted: 19 September 2025
Accepted: 19 September 2025
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Implementing the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) Act promises to increase the enrolment of legal Nigerian residents and utilization of NHIA-accredited healthcare facilities. Therefore, investigating the morbidity pattern of its enrollees would provide information for strategic planning for the anticipated increase in healthcare demand.
The objective of this study was to analyse the morbidity profile of NHIA enrollees attending a tertiary health facility in Kano, Nigeria
This was a retrospective cross-sectional study involving 380 randomly selected primary care patients attending the NHIA Clinic of a tertiary hospital in Kano, northwestern Nigeria. A standardized data collection sheet was used to collect data from January 2018 to December 2019 from their case files. Data were analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) (version 24.0).
The mean age of the participants was 37.5 years (Standard Deviation, SD±16.0). Females predominated, comprising 238 (62.6%). The median clinic visit was 8 (IQR 6-11). Only 62 (16.3%) participants were referred to secondary or tertiary care levels. A majority had Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), accounting for 288 (75.8%), while 259 (68.2%) presented with communicable diseases. The most common morbidities were malaria (22.0%), hypertension (16.0%), and dyspepsia (13.0%). A statistically significant association was found between age group, sex, and the morbidity patterns of the enrollees (p=0.001).
This study demonstrates the dual burden of diseases among NHIA enrollees, with malaria, hypertension, and dyspepsia emerging as the most common morbidities. These findings provide insights for developing targeted care models and serve as a baseline for effective drug procurement strategies in this and similar NHIA clinics in the region.
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How to Cite
“Morbidity Pattern Among National Health Insurance Enrollees Attending the Primary Care Clinic of a Tertiary Hospital in Northwestern Nigeria”. 2026. Pyramid Journal of Medicine 9 (1). https://doi.org/10.4081/pjm.2026.552.
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